Milstein, long known for his images of planes in flight photographed from directly below, reverses the perspective in the current images, offering views of New York and Los Angeles taken from an altitude of 1,000 – 2,000 feet. The distance is far enough that the geometry of the urban streetscape, invisible from the ground, emerges into surprising, often elegant patterns, as in the Masonic-inspired layout of the Park La Brea housing development in Los Angeles, yet close enough that the scenes retain a human feeling, whether it’s the claustrophobia of tiny rectangular houses squeezed next to each other in virtually treeless grids. The images suggest that however chaotic or inscrutable modern life might appear, it is tied to age-old patterns that guide in ways we don’t immediately perceive, but which nevertheless guide us through our daily routines.

Eric Cahan’s Data Mining takes its name from marketing research techniques that measure web users’ browsing patterns when they view fine art content online. A museum-goer spends an average of thirty seconds in front of an individual work of art, whereas a browser on Instagram or Pinterest spends only eight. Images flow past the eye one after another, throwing into question long-held assumptions about the totemic nature of a work of art. Cahan mirrors this blurring process in his photographs, transforming solarized image of water through a combination of techniques both digital and traditional. The resulting images, luminescent yet opaque, are as seductive as carnival mirrors, yet ultimately reflect only the viewer’s gaze. Though representational, there silver swirls and bursts of color and shadow are so abstracted that they challenge our notion of what a photograph actually communicates: a view of an object removed in time and space, or nothing but the viewer’s assumptions about the image itself.

Renato D’Agostin: ITER
August 8-20 2015

Opening reception Saturday August 8 2015

Iter presents a selection of photographs from Renato D’Agostin’s past and future projects. Visitors will be invited to explore photographic prints from D’Agostin’s published projects such as Tokyo Untitled, The Beautiful Cliché Venezia, Etna, Acrobats and Frecce, as well as a preview of the upcoming projects Kapadokya, Shanghai, Paris, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Istanbul and Eros.

KAPADOKYA
July 23 – October 25 2015 – 11:00am – 7:00pm

Opening reception July 22, 8-10pm

Kapadokya belongs solely to the myth. It was once inhabited, in the middle of traffic plying the ancient Anatolia by connecting the logic west with the east of religion, the magic and the wonderful. For this reason Pasolini set his Medea, as if Euripides took from those caves of mystery the golden fleece to carry to Greece. Now nothing has remained besides the wonderful, the timeless, the silence/suspended wing over the unchangeable cobalt, the shadow/mystery of painted caves. Which people will again animate those stones? Maybe nobody. Which word will rise from underground to become harmony again? What form will clouds be in the sky? Or will it forever remain the stone and the enigma of gone seasons, of extinct spirits? There will remain nothing but the mystery-blue sky, the moon in silvery nights, the motionless sun over lonely rocks. Forever, because the only one not to die is the myth.

Jon Tonks: Empire
11 September to 12 December 2015

Perhaps better known as places of conflict, exile and Darwinian experimentation, award winning photographer Jon Tonks photographs the people and landscapes of each territory, capturing traces of the past and offering a window into the communities and their lifestyles that, despite the distance, remain very firmly British.

Rubi Lebovitch: Home Sweet Home
July 3- August 22, 2015

Reception: August 7, 2015 from 6-9 pm

Stepping into the Home Sweet Home exhibition is like stepping through a funhouse mirror. Using straightforward images of domestic scenes, Rubi Lebovitch creates new context and meaning; often transforming these comfortable and familiar scenes into something strange and surprising. Lebovitch seeks to highlight the things at home normally hidden. The scenes he creates can be divided in to two main categories: inanimate objects and human scenarios. Both categories are characterized by mystery, vagueness and absurdity. A mixture of anxiety and humor is experienced when viewing these works, which bel​ie​ the peacefulness and security usually associated with home.

Joseph D.R. OLeary: Of Beards and Men July 3- August 22, 2015

Reception: August 7, 2015 from 6-9 pm

Of Beards and Men is a remarkable, whimsical, and insightful collection of portraits that serve to capture many facets of masculinity. Using bold full-bodied portraits of men with varying degrees of facial hair, Joseph D.R. OLeary explores the current cultural fascination with defining masculinity and the struggles men face to create their own persona’s and identities. OLeary’s portraits are both inspired and defined by each man’s personality, giving them an innate sense of uniqueness and individuality within each image. Stepping into this gallery surrounds the viewer with beautiful portraits and food for thought as a partial visual record of masculinity in contemporary society.

Landscape photography is such an amazing photographic art form. We only have one planet and the fact that there are so many treasures to behold with our eyes is a mind-bending thought. We never really give much regard to what visuals are out there. We’re so busy with our day to day lives that maybe we don’t get to travel as much as we like and that’s one reason why landscape photo books are so great.

Primordial Landscapes (Iceland Revealed) is a great photography book. It’s so multi layered combining the stunning work of Feodor Pitcairn along with the beautiful poetry of Ari Trausti Gudmundsson. The book it self is a great coffee table book that would certainly get your guests talking. The striking cover definitely makes a nice conversation piece and as you open the book to flip through the well printed pages you will see an amazing combination of landscape photography and a poem on the opposite page.

I like the aspect of poetry accompaniment. We can interpret art any way we see fit. I have often put on a slideshow of Ansel Adams landscapes while blasting Pallbearer and having a bourbon. That may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I like it. Anyone who picks up this book can enjoy it on many levels. There’s the geographic aspect of the photos. Iceland is beautiful and to put it in easier terms every photo in this book looks so lush and vibrant that any image could be out of a Hollywood blockbuster high fantasy film. They look so unreal. Just looking at what Mother Nature has placed in front of us through the eye of a master photographer can open your mind and clear your head immediately. You will get lost in these images.

The poems are a nice touch and they do not take away from the presentation of the photos. They offer a different perspective on the images you see on their opposite page. The poems seem more stream of consciousness and that sort of thing is perfect for looking at landscape photography. You get to come up with your own stories for the images. One thing I really love is that there is an index in the back for each location along with a map of Iceland to see where each image was snapped. Instead of putting the info on the photo page or the opposite page the handy guide in the back just adds another level of excellence to this book. Iceland is a fascinating place and its vistas need to be seen to be believed. Do yourself a favor and pick this book up and take an adventure through Iceland’s glorious terrain.

“Places, like people, can seem alone, filled with melancholy,” Tim Richmond introduces his photographs of the American West.

What we get to see in this tome is, well, deserted streets, a train on its way into a vast emptiness, some dilapidated houses, gas stations, bars, a billboard in the middle of nowhere that shows the face of a healthy young boy and next to it these words: “The POINT is: Life begins at conception!,” a church way out there in the prairie (Oglala Sioux Reservation, South Dakota, the caption reads) … it all looks strangely unreal, and somewhat absurd, although I know it to be real for I have seen such places and scenes when travelling through the US.

Bar, Deadwood, South Dakota

“Richmond’s American West is a desolate place filled with cowboys (or men who look like cowboys), and the few women are also at least a little rough around the edges,” Jörg Colberg aptly describes the characters shown – who, to me, all seem sad and lost.

I feel profoundly touched by these pics that radiate a certain futility and hopelessness that I sometimes feel liberating. A quote from Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance comes to mind (I quote from memory): The Dakotas do not promise anything and that is why they do not have to live up to anything special.

There’s nothing pretentious, no showing off – the people portrayed do not pose for the photographer. And the few who do, like the woman in a bar in Deadwood, South Dakota, do not make an effort in order to make a favourable impression. That’s the way I am, the woman seems to say.

To me, Tim Richmond’s photographs show neither the American dream nor its opposite. What they show is a very human reality stripped of illusions. The bars, beer cans, and cigarettes illustrate that such a reality is sometimes difficult to bear.